Looking around these days, I see three types of people in American society. Borrowing from Hollywood, I fondly name these types Blue Pills, Red Pills, and the Borg.

Blue Pills account for most of society, about 75 to 85 percent. Blue Pills generally allow TV to do most of their thinking for them. They work their jobs, take their kids to soccer practice, go to church, and talk about those nasty terrorists. Their thoughts and world view are dictated by what they see on the nightly news.

Blue Pills generally possess strong beliefs, usually handed down to them by their parents, and enforced by friends, coworkers, and ministers. They are usually so busy, they seldom have time or desire to question these, and when others do so in their presence, they either ignore or write them off as some kind of kook. While the Blue Pills themselves aren't guilty of mass murder, it is they who sat back while Hitler rose to power. It is they who believe, without question, the official story of 9/11, despite the numerous holes in that explanation. They believe it because Katie Couric or Tom Brokaw said it. That's all they need.

Although the Borg comprises a relatively small portion of the population, about 2 to 5 percent, it enjoys unequalled and unquestioned power. It delights in the slumber of the Blue Pills. Its very survival depends on it, for it is from their sleeping that the Borg derives its power. If they were to awaken, the Borg would disappear.

To assure its survival, therefore, the Borg must keep the Blue Pills in their dream state. To this end, the Borg utilizes a potent, proven tool. A tool so effective, almost no one is immune to its poison. It tells one how to think, behave, and what to believe. Blue Pills allow themselves to virtually stay entranced every evening. Some all day long. We call it television, and for the Blue Pills to wake up, it must be destroyed.

The Borg survives off the energy of the Blue Pills, much like the machines in "The Matrix" survived off humans in their suspended forms. Gross inaction on the part of the Blue Pills allows the Borg free reign to exert their will whenever and wherever they choose.

The Borg calls the political shots, invading and taxing as it sees fit, manufacturing consent with statements such as, "The American people want . . .". By repeating such statements over time, the Blue Pills eventually fall in line, allowing their needs and wants to be dictated to them by the Borg. The truth is a lie. Poverty is wealth. War is Peace.

Red Pills make up about 10 percent of the population, and are comprised of the most educated and informed. Scientists, philosophers, and other intellectual types qualify as Red Pills, as well as any thinking or questioning individual who does not take what they hear or see at face value.

The ultimate goal of the Red Pills is to awaken the Blue Pills, thus destroying the Borg and their enslavement of mankind. Their tools, however, are extremely limited, as opposed to the Borg, who possesses almost limitless resources. The Red Pills, in fact, have only one. A very potent tool, to be sure, although only effective on those willing and able to use it. They call it Reason.

While Reason is effective on some, it has proved worthless in American society when confronted with its opposite, that being Emotion, the primary weapon of the Borg. One look at the current President illustrates this point. Here is a man who can barely articulate a simple sentence, to whom Reason is as much a stranger as running water and electricity are to Iraqis, yet when he says things like, "Bring 'em on," throngs of people cheer, mindlessly waving cloths with a design of red, white and blue.

The resolution escapes me, but I honestly cannot see it occurring without some drastic event, or series of events, be they economic, political, or something more extreme. It's difficult to be optimistic when so many people allow themselves to be led so blindly to their own slaughter.

Perhaps it's just human nature to want to be led, and maybe I'm from Pluto.